Daily Recap — July 16

PAGE BACK ON THE HILL

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Things are getting interesting with Lisa Page. My gossip post over the weekend regarding her possible “flipping” keeps looking better all the time.

In her second day of interviews before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Page is reportedly enabling members to get to “some of the misstatements or things that were not believable” during agent Peter Strzok’s testimony on Capitol Hill last week, House Oversight and Judiciary Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), said today.

“Lisa Page is in a position where she certainly seems to like Pete, as she calls him, but at the same time, she make sure that she covers herself,” Issa added.

Making sure she covers herself, eh? Well that’s certainly interesting.

“That means is you reported earlier, that she is not denying that what [the texts] say, they mean.”

Just to refresh your memories, Strzok testified last week that the texts he and Page, with whom he cheated on his wife during the 2016 election, were “late-night shortcuts” that didn’t really mean what they said.

Page, meanwhile, is better prepared because she and her attorneys have seen what Strzok said publicly, Issa said.

“This is a common lawyer technique,” he said. “They always want to know as much as they can before they spin their version of the truth.”

Issa couldn’t say specifically what Page said, because of the closed nature of the interviews, but ‘it is very, very clear that she is looking to the FBI to weigh in and object as often as possible.”

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Rep. Mark Meadows also hinted at cooperation from Page:

“Lisa Page today and again on Friday demonstrated a transparency that we didn’t see from Peter Strzok,” said Meadows.

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), a House Judiciary member, also pointed to differences in Page’s testimony.

“In many cases, she admits that the text messages mean exactly what they say, as opposed to agent Strzok, who thinks we have all misinterpreted his own words on any text message that might be negative,” Ratcliffe said.

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Of course, the problem is it will still be a he said/she said, or in this case, a “he said/she perceived.” Strzok can simply say he meant one thing but Page took it a different way, unless there is context to show he knew himself to be conveying a different point than what he’s now asserting.

In any case, inconsistencies can indicate deception, which isn’t good for King Bob’s former top counterintel dog.

Don’t be scared, Lisa. The truth shall set you free.

I’ll keep you updated.

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ANOTHER SCALP FOR MUELLER

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King Bob continues to try to prove his relevance with garbage indictments of various people around the Beltway.

A Russian woman living in D.C. has been charged for conspiring to work for the Russian government by establishing relationships and infiltrating organizations that have influence in U.S. politics, according to the ever trustworthy DOJ.

Yesterday the feds arrested Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian citizen, and charged her “with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General,” according to a DOJ press release.

Remember, folks. If you want to act as a Russian agent within our borders, you better give Keebler Jeff a heads-up first.

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The DOJ alleges that Butina acted with “the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation” at the direction a “high-level” Russian official.

“The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation,” the press release notes, citing the affidavit in support of the complaint.

That’s called “lobbying,” people.

“Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank,” the DOJ says, noting she did this work from as early as 2015 until at least February 2017.

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Earlier this year, Dims on the Senate Judiciary Committee claimed that they had obtained documents that suggest Russia used the National Rifle Association (NRA) “to secretly fund Mr. Trump’s campaign.” Butina was named in the panel’s preliminary findings.

The Dims identified Butina and Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, as two people of particular interest. Butina worked as an assistant to Torshin.

The DOJ press release alleges that Butina continued to work for this Russian official, who was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in April.

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BOTTOM LINE:

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Remember how I said that half of DC could be arrested for what they charged Manafort? Here is an example.

I’m not keen on foreign lobbyists of any sort in our country. I don’t like lobbyists period, actually, but at least don’t represent a foreign country. In any event, it happens a thousand times a day and now King Bob is suddenly concerned about it.

It’s just an excuse for King Bob to stick around. Nothing more, nothing less.

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THE GOP WAS ALMOST SMART

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I’ve long said that the GOP’s best asset is the Democrat party. Without such stupid enemies, our spineless wonders would’ve been out of power long ago. They seemed to have caught on to that fact just the other day, when it was announced they would finally use the stupidity of the Dims to their advantage. I saw a spark of political smarts that gave me a real sense of hope.

Alas, it wasn’t to be.

In a reversal from last week, House GOP leaders have scrapped a floor vote on a Dim measure calling for the outright abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Instead, the House will vote Wednesday on a resolution — authored by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) — to support ICE.

“What I found so interesting is the Democrats introduced a bill to abolish ICE … we give them an opportunity, and they say they don’t want to vote for it,” said Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who controls which bills come to the House floor.

.McCarthy said last Thursday he intended to bring the abolish ICE bill to the floor in an attempt to force vulnerable Dims to take a difficult vote. GOP leaders thought Dims in swing districts would be reluctant to criticize the federal agency responsible for fighting human and drug trafficking and border enforcement. They were correct.

But the coochie caps responded by vowing to vote “no” and dismissed it as an election year show vote.

And of course Speaker Paul Rino and his team weren’t on board with the decision to hold a vote, as that would require political savvy and a spine. The word on the skreet is the decision to reverse course followed a standing meeting between Ryan and McCarthy last Friday.

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BOTTOM LINE:

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Dims gave the GOP a #BigFat gift in the form of this “Abolish ICE” movement. We could have held them to it and made them go on the record, but it wasn’t to be.

Oh well, at least they have the resolution on supporting ICE. They can get some vulnerable Dims on the record for that.

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OBAMACARE SAVED FOR NOW…MAYBE

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I’ve got good news and bad news.

The good news is, those rising healthcare premiums I warned everyone about may not come at least for a little while longer, as the GOP seems to have heeded my insistence that they get ahead of this issue.

The bad news is the other thing I was right about; that we’re going to be stuck keeping BarryCare alive in perpetuity.

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House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said today that he is in talks with the Trump administration about ways to restart key BarryCare payments that the administration abruptly suspended this month.

Brady, who’s the go-to Republican on health-care issues, told reporters that he is talking with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and others about how to restart the payments.

“The administration wants to restore those payments, so we’re looking at ways that we can help them do that,” Brady said.

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The House is planning to vote next week on a range of health-care bills, including expanding health savings accounts and delaying or repealing certain BarryCare taxes, Brady said.

But when asked whether a fix to restart the payments could be included in that package next week, Brady said, “That I don’t know.”

“We’re continuing to engage with the secretary and others on this,” he said.

Dims, who do show flashes of competence from time to time (more often than Republicans, frankly) are using rising BarryCare premiums as a prominent line of attack ahead of the midterms.

And that’s what Brady is trying to stop.

“I always remind everyone, these aren’t government tax dollars, these are private dollars that are exchanged between the insurers, so I think at a time when people are getting hammered under ObamaCare, frankly relief on those premiums [is] important,” Brady said.

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The Trump administration cited as its reason for stopping the payments a court ruling from a federal judge in New Mexico finding that the administration had not fully justified its formula for dispensing the funds, which are made through a program known as risk adjustment.

Brady likewise pointed to the court decision, saying he was “very concerned” by the ruling.

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BOTTOM LINE:

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After doing a litte legal research, it appears the admin may be overstating the effects of the court decision and could probably restart the payments on its own.

Killing BarryCare was a main promise of candidate Trump, though, and President Trump is doing all he can to make it happen, despite the thumbs-down votes of people like Cooter McCain.

We just better make sure that we have a plan in place for when that day comes, or the Dims are gonna capitalize #BigLeague.

See you tomorrow, Trumpers. Keep that head up.

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